Minnesota — Forbes 500 Companies

A Photo Tour Of Forbes 500 Company
HQ Buildings And Locations In Minnesota

Introduction

I happened to see the Fortune 500 list sorted by home state, and
found it interesting that Minnesota was home to 18 Fortune 500
companies. After reviewing the list, I realized that some familiar
names were missing. It turns out that the Fortune 500 list only
covers public companies, plus it has a few other filters. I found
that Forbes Magazine publishes an annual list of the top privately
held US-based companies.

In order to make the Forbes list, a company has to be based in the United
States, and be largely privately held or very closely held. In addition,
any public parts of a given company are subtracted off of the criteria
for ranking. Finally, a floor of $1.0-billion in revenue is placed.
That means that the list actually contains only about 340 companies, of
which, 12 are located in Minnesota.

Cargill is the 500 pound gorilla of private companies. There is Cargill,
and then there is everyone else. Its $66-billion in revenue puts Cargill
at 16 if it was on the Fortune 500 list (smaller than Home Depot but
bigger than Bank Of America), and the 46th largest company in the world
(same size as Sony).

Schwan FoodRank In MN: 2, Rank In Forbes 500: 62.

Location: 115 West College, Marshall. 156 miles west-south-west of Minneapolis.

Schwans is a market leader in frozen foods. They are unique in that they
sell direct to the customer in delivery trucks that go all over the US.
They also sell to retailers and institutions. Most of us know the Red Baron
Pizza and Freschetta Pizza brands. Schwans is probably best known for
their line of premium ice creams. It all started in 1952 with one guy
and one truck.

The Carlson Companies are big into travel, restaurant, and hotel business
with such brands as Radisson. The company has a signature head quarters
in the western suburbs that shine like gold in the sunlight. Many folks
think that Curt Carlson built these buildings as a monument to himself
before he passed on. All I can say is that if I was building a monument
to myself, that is pretty much what it would look like. The grounds on
the site were originally configured for four such towers, but only two
have been built to date.

The Andersen Window factory in Bayport has 2.8-million square feet under
roof covering more than 65 acres of land. They make more than 6-million
windows every year. An excellent tour of the factory was presented by
Bob Vila on the PBS TV show "This Old House" a number of years ago.
Andersen picked the Bayport location since it had easy access to logs
that were sent to market by floating them down the Saint Croix River.

Petters Group WorldwideRank In MN: 5, Rank In Forbes 500: 127.

Location: 4900 Baker Road, Minnetonka. I-494 and MN-7 interchange.

Tom Petters started off selling odd lots of merchandise, eventually
as a chain of Petters stores across the Midwest. The company made a
big move when Petters teamed up with Ted Diekel teamed up to restart
Fingerhut after it was shut down by Federated Stores. Fingerhut has
been a huge success. Petters has leveraged that success to purchase
several national brands such as Sunbeam and Polaroid. If Petters
continues to move at this pace, there is no limit to what they can
accomplish.

Update—disaster struck the Petters Group in late 2008 when it
was revealed that the company was one huge Ponzi Scheme that left
investors holding the bag for $10-billion in losses. Tom Petters
has since traded in his silk suit for orange jail coveralls.

Rosen's Diversified is a company that I never heard of located in a town
that I never heard of. It turns out that the two Rosen brothers returned
from WWII and started a cattle business. They incrementally grew the
business by branching off into cattle supplies, feed, and drugs, then moved
wide to supply other agribusiness niches. The reason we don't know the
name Rosen is that they do not use it in any of their brand names. Some
60 years after WWII, the Rosens have built themselves a small empire.

We know Glen Taylor as the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball
team, but few people know how Taylor made his fortune. While working at
a print shop, he convinced the owner to sell him the print shop on payments
over time. Once the shop was paid for, Taylor expanded rapidly across all
areas of printing and across the globe. Taylor virtually owns the business
of printing wedding invitations.

As its name suggests, Michael Foods is a food processor. But while other
companies this size grew by adding a zillion products, Michael Foods grew
by dominating a few lines of business. For example, Michael Foods is the
largest supplier of processed eggs in the world. Crystal Farms dairy
products are a staple in grocery stores across the US, especially in
the cheese cooler.

Holiday CompaniesRank In MN: 9, Rank In Forbes 500: 242.

Location: 4867 American Blvd West, Bloomington. I-494 west, south on France Ave, west on American Blvd.

Holiday has been a company that has been looking for focus over the years,
and from the looks of the company today, they have found it. Holiday once
tried mini-mart grocery stores, large format stores, department stores,
and the first 24 hour superstores in the twin cities. Those concepts never
really panned out. But what has worked is the gas station teamed with a
high end convenience store. Gone are the days when Holiday carried
car parts and consumer electronics. What works today is catering to the
traveler and service workers—snacks, beverages, and quick on-the-go
meals.

The Musicland Group has been through the corporate equivalent of hell over
the past few years. The music business took a major downturn in the
mid-90's as people rebelled against corporate music that was lacking in
creativity. Musicland suffered greatly. Nearly out of cash, they were
forced to sell out to Best Buy. After Best Buy ran them through the
ringer, they were sold off to a vulture capital group. In 2006, the
company was forced into Chapter 11. This will finally allow the company
to get rid of lagging stores and cancel leases on stores that have long
been closed. Can they turn it around? Only time will tell.

Genmar is another large company that I never heard of. It turns out that
they own about a dozen major manufactures of boats. The company was
put together by Irwin Jacobs of the Jacobs Trading Company. Jacobs is one
of those rare people who can both see the big picture and make it happen.
While he has a reputation for having everything he touches turn into gold,
I'd assume that his touch involves a lot of hard work.

Genmar has perhaps the best headquarters location in the twin cities.
They are on the 29th floor of the IDS Center, which once was the executive
floor when IDS occupied that building. If you are going to have a
signature address, 2900 IDS Center is about as good as it gets.

M.A. MortensonRank In MN: 12, Rank In Forbes 500: 299.

Location: 700 Meadow Lane North, Minneapolis. MN-55 west of downtown Minneapolis just east of MN-100.

Mortenson is a quiet company that you never hear too much about. They
don't make a big splash, nor do they seem to cause trouble. But looking
at their project list on their web site is like looking at a who's who
in spectacular building projects. From downtown skyscrapers to wind
energy farms, Mortenson is on the cutting edge of the building and
construction industry.